Skate punk legends JFA to play an intimate museum show in October

Don "Redondo" Pendleton, Brian Brannon (holding the long board), Jamie Reidling, and Corey Stretz are JFA and they have a killer new record out called Last Ride. Ed Colver

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Can you discuss Phoenix’s skateboarding history without mentioning the band JFA? The answer is no, unequivocally.

The Tempe History Museum opened the “Dry History: Local Skateboarding History” exhibition in May. As part of its related events, the legendary skate punk band that formed in Phoenix in 1981 will play a free show at the museum on October 10. The show will be a little more subdued than you might get at, say, an outdoor party at a skate park, but it certainly won’t be any less fun.

Band members Brian Brannon and Don Pendleton will perform a “spectacular duo set” of their songs, which are synonymous with skateboarding culture and early ’80s hardcore punk. When the music portion of the evening is over, Don, Brian, and Tony Victor — the guy who signed the band to his Placebo Records label back in the day — will hold a panel discussion to share some funny stories and give the audience a chance to ask questions.

The night will be kicked off by local band Fat Gray Cat, which includes more veterans of the Arizona music scene. Their singer, Michael Pistrui, is jazzed. “There would be no Fat Gray Cat without JFA. Three of us in the band went to high school together, and after seeing JFA at Mad Gardens, on the way home, said, ‘We’re starting a band.’ Now, years later, we play together in Fat Gray Cat. A lot of our love for JFA was also sparked by the fact that they were skateboarders just like us — we still skateboard. We still love JFA and skateboarding. Surf punks we’re not, this band goes hand-in-hand with the history of skateboarding in Arizona,” he says.

The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Tempe History Museum, 809 E. Southern Ave. in Tempe.

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Phoenix punk icons JFA.

Marilyn Szabo